Film, TV and the Arts

Film, TV and the Arts

Tuesday, 20 December 2011

Come back Woody! All is forgiven!

Hollywood is welcoming one
of its favourite sons back into the fold

Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris is steadily picking up nominations in the awards
season, including a Best Ensemble Cast SAG nomination, and four at the Golden
Globes. In all honesty, the warmth of this reception is in part down
to the fact that Hollywood has never fallen out of love with Woody. He remains
one of America’s most enduringly popular directors, despite that fact that he
often turns out disappointing films. His back catalogue has earned him a lot of
leeway.

It is also down to the high enjoyment factor of Midnight in Paris. To those that have
not seen it, I highly recommend it, but to read any more of this article may ruin
it for, as there is a central conceit which has to be revealed in order to
discuss it. I would suggest that the film is seen before this is read.

Owen Wilson is Gil, a frustrated Hollywood hack who wants to
be a writer like his heroes, Hemingway and Fitzgerald. Finding himself in Paris
with his beautiful but rather soulless fiancée Inez (Rachel McAdams) and her
parents, he is nostalgic for the Paris of the roaring twenties and finds
himself wandering the streets late at night. An old fashioned car pulls up by
him at midnight, he climbs in and finds himself transported back to the twenty
when he meets not just Hemingway and the Fitzgeralds, but also Gertrude Stein
(Kathy Bates), Salvador Dali (Adrien Brody), Cole Porter, Picasso, Man Ray,
Bunuel - the list goes on.

The number of jokes you get are generally proportionate to
how much you know about the people and the era, but it is undoubtedly
entertaining and utterly charming, the narrative being sufficiently engaging
that even the uninitiated (and I would say that I myself am only acquainted with
the era in patches) will enjoy themselves. Allen evokes the twenties perfectly
if fantastically, making them a place of wine, music and bonhomie.

It is not just the “Fantasy Dinner Party” turned into a
film, for as the incredible guest list of characters continue to appear, they
are underpinned by Allen’s humour (which is firing on all cylinders) and great
performances. Most notable are the young Tom Hiddleston who is brilliant as F.
Scott Fitzgerald, and Adrien Brody in an absolutely magnificent cameo as
Salvador “Dali!” However, towering above them all is the irresistible Marion
Cotillard as Adriana, a muse in this film severally for Picasso, Hemingway and,
in the end, Gil. She is radiant on screen and utterly lovely, delivering the
latest in a long string of simply beguiling performances.

Now, it is not a classic film. It is wrapped up in itself
and sets about going for cerebral laughs and not much else, save for a dash of
romance on the side. It is certainly not to everybody’s taste and could be seen
as smug and pretentious. These criticisms are unfair. The fact that a little
bit of knowledge aides the enjoyment of this film is not a mark against it, not
least because it is a very accessible romantic comedy. This is a work of charm,
not of snobbery.

The heart of Allen’s film is nostalgia, how
attractive it is and how those who lived in an enviable time, envied other eras
themselves. It is perhaps appropriate that this is the film which appears to
have brought him fully back into the bosom of Hollywood. Match Point and Vicky
Christina Barcelona hinted at the best of Woody, but Midnight in Paris has made them more than a little wistful.